Spicy Vegan Black Bean Burgers

These spicy vegan Black Bean Burgers are perfect for a cookout! These are spicy and smoky with chipotle chili and cumin, and they have the goodness of brown rice, oats and walnuts cooked into them. Best of all, they hold together beautifully on the grill. Vegan, soy-free and gluten-free.

This Spicy Vegan Black Bean Burger is mouthwateringly yummy, packed with secretly healthy stuff, and hefty enough for the grill. In other words, it's the perfect burger for a cookout -- and it's good for you.

I have many vegan veggie burger recipes on the blog, and this one has been around for a while. This was a great recipe to begin with, but I've made some tweaks to it since I last shared it in 2010, by adding cumin and chipotle chili, which makes it not just smoky and spicy but totally tasty.

The black beans are not the only health stars in this Spicy Vegan Black Bean Burgers recipe. There are oats here, and brown rice (why use breadcrumbs?), and carrots, and walnuts. And you don't really need much fat at all to cook them -- in fact, coating your pan with a quick spray of oil is more than enough. Or you could just roast them without oil in a nonstick pan and make them free of all added fats.

11 ingredients for the best Vegan Black Bean Burgers:

• Black beans. Cook your own, if you'd rather, but I just opened a couple of cans.
• Cooked brown rice
• Rolled oats
• Walnuts. They add amazing crunch and texture
• Chipotle chili in adobo sauce. For flavor and smokiness.
• Cumin. More smokiness.
• Ketchup
• Cilantro
• Carrots
• Garlic powder
• Oil for cooking (any vegetable oil, including olive oil and avocado oil, is fine. If you're watching the weighing scales, or just want to eat less added oil, you can leave this out and roast your burgers on a nonstick skillet)
• Optional: Sesame seeds (for more crunch and healthfulness)'
• Salt and pepper

How to make Spicy Vegan Black Bean Burgers

• This recipe is quite foolproof, and everything comes together in the food processor. But be sure you add them in the order I list. If your food processor bowl can't hold all of the ingredients, process some of the ingredients first, then the rest, and mix everything together in a bowl.
• Start out by processing the nuts and the oats in the food processor. (Or you can finely mince them with a knife, but a food processor makes this so much easier.)
• Add the cumin, chipotle chili and adobo sauce, cilantro, cumin, carrots and garlic to the food processor, season with salt, give it a whir to mix.
• Finally add the beans and the rice. Process until you have a mixture that holds together when you press it into a ball in your fist.
• I like to make hefty burger patties with these, about three inches in diameter, and the recipe makes 10 of those. You could make smaller or bigger patties according to your preference.
• To shape your patties, pat them into discs using your palms and fingers, and make sure you smooth the edges with your fingers as you go along.
• Coat the bottom of a nonstick pan or cast iron skillet with oil and cook the burger patty for 4-5 minutes on each side until brown spots appear.
• You can make these burgers ahead and freeze them for later. Separate the burger patties with wax paper or parchment paper and store in an airtight freezer container or a bag with a zip top. You can throw them frozen on the grill.
• You can also bake them in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, then bake for about 25-30 minutes. Flip halfway through baking.

This time, I assembled my burgers with vegan mayo mixed with a spicy chili garlic sauce before layering on spinach or spring greens, tomatoes and avocado slices. Chipotle mayo would be great here too, and you can also layer on slices of onion or a tomato salsa. You can also serve these burgers topped with cole slaw or sauerkraut or pickles.

If you make this Black Bean Burger, be sure to let me know in the comments below, or take a photo and post on Instagram. Tag me @HolyCowVegan.

Enjoy the Fourth! And remember to keep your pets safe indoors during the fireworks.

More veggie burger recipes

• Quinoa and Bean Burger
• Vegan Bean and Oats Burger
• Vegan Beet Burger with Chipotle Cashew Hummus
• Vegan Kidney and Roasted Red Pepper Burger
• Vegan Chickpea Quinoa Burger
• Veggie Burgers for the Grill